The Fall of Atlantic City -video

Over the past years Atlantic City has been slowly turning into a ghost city. Once one of the most popular gambling destinations, now itís dotted with enormous abandoned hotels with little to see and little to eat. What was the reason for this decay? And what Donald Trump has to do with all of that?

Over the past years Atlantic City has been slowly turning into a ghost city. Once one of the most popular gambling destinations, now itís dotted with enormous abandoned hotels with little to see and little to eat. What was the reason for this decay? And what Donald Trump has to do with all of that?

Over the past years Atlantic City has been slowly turning into a ghost city. Once one of the most popular gambling destinations, now it’s dotted with enormous abandoned hotels with little to see and little to eat. What was the reason for this decay? And what Donald Trump has to do with all of that?

Is that a good or bad thing? I've never been to Atlantic City and not sure if I even want to go. The city sure does have a history as a gambling destination though. The way I see it, if you've been to one casino in America, you've nearly been to all of them unless you cross cultural boundaries.

When I saw this clip on Norm's voodoo site the other day, it literally brought a tear to my eye.

I began my blackjack career playing Atlantic City. I was living in Philadelphia, but I visited and played Atlantic City 5 days a week for 5 and half years from March 2004 until Dec 2009 when I moved to Vegas. In my early days, I took those daily bus trips for free transportation...the one's where you get back in casino bonus the cost of a round trip ticket...sometimes even a little more (slightly +EV). The greyhound tickets had a 72 hour open ended return. Towards the end of my AC days, I splurged and took the train. It was $6 at the time, with no casino bonus reimbursement, but was a nicer trip, nicer people...many of them casino workers...some of the same faces I was playing against almost daily.

As those that know me and/or my story know, I began my career with a $4300 bankroll. As a 21 year old, that was every dollar I had to my name at the time. So needless to say, I started out playing the $5 tables. That really limited my table/playing time. Weekday mornings was my best opportunities as there was $5 tables at 5 or 6 different casinos until about noon when the daily buses travelers were arriving in force and table limits increased. There also was a couple hours early evening (weekdays only) that a few casinos opened a couple extra tables and they were $5 for the first hour or so. Other than weekday mornings and early evenings, there was one option....fighting for a seat at the one always $5 table at Borgata and often those seats were hard to come by.

With such limited playing opportunities, my actual table time was limited and this is precisely why my BJ career was such a low limit grind those first few years. In my first 3 years, I made a profit of $31,000......That's not per year....that was total for the 3 years. I lived off of that income which is why it took so long for my BR to begin to grow.

But eventually it did grow. In early 2007 (my 4th year), I hit some strong positive variance and this was really my beginning. This allowed my bankroll to grow just enough that I could play with a small spread at the $10 tables.....and then the $15 tables. This opened up more tables and opportunities. In 2007 I made more than my first 3 years combined. 2008 was my first year with earnings of more than 50k. And by early 2009, I was thinking about relocating to Atlantic City to avoid those 90 minute train rides.

There is (or was) a two building high rise on the southern end of the boardwalk called Ocean Club Condominiums, between Tropicana and what was then Bally's Grand and later Hilton. In the reality office windows on the first floor as you walked past you would see pictures of the condos that were for sale. Studio's were going for 85-90k, a few under 80k with motivated sellers. I figured by the end of 2009, I would have down-payment necessary to buy without tying up all my bankroll.

But a funny thing happened in 2009. I had a great year...my best up until that time, that wasn't the problem. The problem was as the year progressed, I had begun to wear out my welcome. Mostly at the Borgata...but that was my big store....best rules and conditions and about 50% of my play. I guess the guys at the big B had watched me go from playing that lone $5 table to spreading green to mid black and while that was still fairly low limit for the B, they weren't going to let me sit there and do so, 5-6 hours a day during the weekdays when that level was more noticed.

As most know, NJ can't bar players for counting. For a while NJ could preferential shuffle although that never happened to me. What Borgata did was pull out a special minimum bet/max bet plaque that applied only to me (or whoever they were counter-measuring). The card read $5 minimum and $50 maximum, despite that it was a $25 table with normal maximum of $5000. I later learned this 1-10 spread ($5-$50) was the law at the time. As summer turned to fall, it became very apparent, even to someone as dense as me that my days of Atlantic City as my home base were coming to an end. I sure am glad I didn't buy a condo there. By the end of the year I had bought a condo In Vegas and was heading west, where I have lived happily ever after.

I only returned to AC one time after 2009, simply because I wanted to check out the Revel after it had opened. During my time in AC, the Revel stood half built, and it looked like it would never be completed, so I wanted to check it out. I wasn't impressed.

So my time in AC was very special to me. I will always have a soft spot for AC. I launched my career there, built my bankroll and really learned what I needed to do to win. So watching that video with many casinos that I played regularly closed was really hard. It felt like a funeral to me.

Excellent piece of writing there, KJ. Insane it was that N0rm shot hisself in the foot when he banned you. You were obviously one prized asset, but N0rm has a long habit of being unnappreciative and shooting himself in the foot.

Excellent piece of writing there, KJ. Insane it was that N0rm shot hisself in the foot when he banned you. You were obviously one prized asset, but N0rm has a long habit of being unnappreciative and shooting himself in the foot.

I resemble those remarks!

My motto: "I hate to support casinos. But, I hate worse to libel anyone at anytime."

Excellent piece of writing there, KJ. Insane it was that N0rm shot hisself in the foot when he banned you. You were obviously one prized asset, but N0rm has a long habit of being unnappreciative and shooting himself in the foot.

Thanks Katz. My mother always told me I was special. She said that is why I was in "special education" classes.

Seriously, I am not one of the great math geek type guys found throughout the blackjack community. Now in my 14th year of playing blackjack for a living, I still don't understand many of the formulas and equations that some of these great math minds lay on us. But I don't need to. I am living proof, that in this day and age, you don't need to be Peter Griffin to play winning blackjack. Norm's software allows someone like me to find the answers that I need without understanding all the numbers and math behind it.

My contribution, my way of giving a little something back to the community, for those members that shared so much with me, was never going to be about or based in the mathematics of the game. My contribution was always about sharing my actual experiences, good and bad...what I call "the good, bad and ugly". Norm felt the need to take that from me, and from some newer players that might benefit from someone like me, sharing their actual experiences. He took that from me, not only on his site, but then he trolled me to other sites using whatever influence he had to get them to shut me down as well.

It remains inexplicable to me why he would do this, while at the same time providing a platform and encouragement for a complete fraud to mislead newer members and players with his phony, impossible claims. If I, with my limited mathematical knowledge could see that these claims, like "500% increase in win rate" and all but "eliminate the variance associated with blackjack card counting", and "hitting you EV every few hours or days with no swings" were complete bullshit and mathematically impossible, surely someone like Norm, knew it too.

So the question remains, why? Why would a guy like Norm who tells you his concerns are for the community and newer players, take the actions that he did and allow his site to basically be reduced to voodoo status among most knowledgeable and successful players throughout the community? I have a theory as to what this was really all about, but only Norm knows for sure what he was really thinking.

When I saw this clip on Norm's voodoo site the other day, it literally brought a tear to my eye.

I began my blackjack career playing Atlantic City. I was living in Philadelphia, but I visited and played Atlantic City 5 days a week for 5 and half years from March 2004 until Dec 2009 when I moved to Vegas. In my early days, I took those daily bus trips for free transportation...the one's where you get back in casino bonus the cost of a round trip ticket...sometimes even a little more (slightly +EV). The greyhound tickets had a 72 hour open ended return. Towards the end of my AC days, I splurged and took the train. It was $6 at the time, with no casino bonus reimbursement, but was a nicer trip, nicer people...many of them casino workers...some of the same faces I was playing against almost daily.

As those that know me and/or my story know, I began my career with a $4300 bankroll. As a 21 year old, that was every dollar I had to my name at the time. So needless to say, I started out playing the $5 tables. That really limited my table/playing time. Weekday mornings was my best opportunities as there was $5 tables at 5 or 6 different casinos until about noon when the daily buses travelers were arriving in force and table limits increased. There also was a couple hours early evening (weekdays only) that a few casinos opened a couple extra tables and they were $5 for the first hour or so. Other than weekday mornings and early evenings, there was one option....fighting for a seat at the one always $5 table at Borgata and often those seats were hard to come by.

With such limited playing opportunities, my actual table time was limited and this is precisely why my BJ career was such a low limit grind those first few years. In my first 3 years, I made a profit of $31,000......That's not per year....that was total for the 3 years. I lived off of that income which is why it took so long for my BR to begin to grow.

But eventually it did grow. In early 2007 (my 4th year), I hit some strong positive variance and this was really my beginning. This allowed my bankroll to grow just enough that I could play with a small spread at the $10 tables.....and then the $15 tables. This opened up more tables and opportunities. In 2007 I made more than my first 3 years combined. 2008 was my first year with earnings of more than 50k. And by early 2009, I was thinking about relocating to Atlantic City to avoid those 90 minute train rides.

There is (or was) a two building high rise on the southern end of the boardwalk called Ocean Club Condominiums, between Tropicana and what was then Bally's Grand and later Hilton. In the reality office windows on the first floor as you walked past you would see pictures of the condos that were for sale. Studio's were going for 85-90k, a few under 80k with motivated sellers. I figured by the end of 2009, I would have down-payment necessary to buy without tying up all my bankroll.

But a funny thing happened in 2009. I had a great year...my best up until that time, that wasn't the problem. The problem was as the year progressed, I had begun to wear out my welcome. Mostly at the Borgata...but that was my big store....best rules and conditions and about 50% of my play. I guess the guys at the big B had watched me go from playing that lone $5 table to spreading green to mid black and while that was still fairly low limit for the B, they weren't going to let me sit there and do so, 5-6 hours a day during the weekdays when that level was more noticed.

As most know, NJ can't bar players for counting. For a while NJ could preferential shuffle although that never happened to me. What Borgata did was pull out a special minimum bet/max bet plaque that applied only to me (or whoever they were counter-measuring). The card read $5 minimum and $50 maximum, despite that it was a $25 table with normal maximum of $5000. I later learned this 1-10 spread ($5-$50) was the law at the time. As summer turned to fall, it became very apparent, even to someone as dense as me that my days of Atlantic City as my home base were coming to an end. I sure am glad I didn't buy a condo there. By the end of the year I had bought a condo In Vegas and was heading west, where I have lived happily ever after.

I only returned to AC one time after 2009, simply because I wanted to check out the Revel after it had opened. During my time in AC, the Revel stood half built, and it looked like it would never be completed, so I wanted to check it out. I wasn't impressed.

So my time in AC was very special to me. I will always have a soft spot for AC. I launched my career there, built my bankroll and really learned what I needed to do to win. So watching that video with many casinos that I played regularly closed was really hard. It felt like a funeral to me.

Your post seriously discredits the contention that Vegas is an AP's worst nightmare.